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American Morning
Perry and Romney Square Off; Obama Lays Out Jobs Plan Tonight; Russian Hockey Team Killed in Plane Crash; Jury Selection in Conrad Murray Trial; Debt Super Committee Gets to Work; Texas Burning; Is the Middle Class Unraveling; Arrests In Possible Germany Bomb Plot; Richardson's Mission In Cuba; Intruder Arrested At Dion's Home; Teaching 9/11
Aired September 08, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's Thursday, September 8th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Ali is off this morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Coming up first this morning, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney taking off the gloves and turning up the volume.
The two GOP heavy weights going toe to toe in last night's Republican debate. Sparring over Social Security and who is better qualified to create jobs.
Jim Acosta is live in Los Angeles this morning. So Jim, the sparks were flying at least between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they certainly were. You can say that for sure. You know, last night, Rick Perry said he felt like the Republican Party piniana that's because nearly everybody else on stage on last night was taking their best whack at the new GOP frontrunner. But Rick Perry showed he can hit back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Rick Perry and Mitt Romney stood side by side at the Reagan debate close enough for the fur to fly first on the question of which governor created more jobs.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, Governor.
ACOSTA: Jumping in the mix was a newly aggressive Jon Huntsman.
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hate to rain on the parade of the great lone star governor, but as governor of Utah, we were the number one job creator in this country.
ACOSTA: The debate soon switched to the Romney healthcare plan in Massachusetts and its individual mandate that requires residents to have medical insurance. What some Republicans now call Obamney care.
PERRY: It was a great opportunity for us as a people to see what will not work and that is an individual mandate in this country.
ACOSTA: Ron Paul later noted Perry was once a Democrat who showed some of his own support for government health care.
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The governor of Texas criticized the governor of Massachusetts for Romney-care, but he wrote a fancy letter supporting Hillary care.
PERRY: Speaking of letters, I was more interested in the one that you wrote to Ronald Reagan back and said I want to quit the party because of the things you believe in.
ACOSTA: Newt Gingrich tried to bring the Republican rumble to a halt.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I for one, I hope all of my friends up here are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other to protect Barack Obama who deserves to be defeated and all of us are committed as a team. Whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Obama.
ACOSTA: Contrast that roaring applause with the crickets that followed Paul's comment that a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico could be used to keep Americans caged in.
PAUL: So every time you think of a fence keeping all those bad people out, think about those fences maybe being used against us, keeping us in.
ACOSTA: But it was Perry who was on the defense, take his anti- Washington book "Fed Up" in which he refers to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.
PERRY: It is a monstrous lie. It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today you paying into a program that's going to be there.
ACOSTA: Romney couldn't resist.
ROMNEY: You say by any measure Social Security is a failure. You can't say that to tens of millions of Americans who live on Social Security and those who have lived on it.
ACOSTA: In an interview with CNN before the Reagan debate, President Obama's re-election campaign adviser Robert Gibbs said Perry's book will be fair game.
(on camera): Are you looking forward to running against that book?
ROBERT GIBBS, OBAMA RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, I think each of the candidates has their share of strange views. Each one of these candidates has an idea that I think the American people are going to find hard to defend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: You know, one of the biggest surprises of last night's debate was Michele Bachmann. You could argue that Rick Perry's rise has hurt her more than anybody else in this race.
But she really took a kid gloves approach to both Romney and Perry. She really did not go after either one of those candidates and played it pretty safe last night. Carol and Christine.
COSTELLO: Although in fairness, Jim, Brian Williams didn't pose a question to Michele Bachmann until 14 minutes into the debate. So she was sort of left out of the thing for a long time, anyway.
ACOSTA: Well, you know, that is true and we heard from Rick Santorum in the spin room last night. He actually came into the spin room and talked to reporters.
He was complaining that he felt that the way that the debate was structured was really to turn this into a fight between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. He was complaining that was not fair.
So if Michele Bachmann has those feelings this morning, we haven't heard that from her. But it wouldn't be a surprise to hear that.
COSTELLO: Jim Acosta -- excuse me. I knew I would do that, Christine. Many thanks to you. Nothing to do with the debate, I swear.
ACOSTA: It wasn't me, I know.
COSTELLO: It wasn't you either, Jim. I'm sorry. It was the tea. This Monday --
ROMANS: Carol, careful there.
COSTELLO: OK, I'm going to get this out, I promise. This Monday, CNN along with the Tea Party Express and several Tea Party groups will co-host a debate with the Republican candidates in Tampa, Florida, the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention.
AMERICAN MORNING will be live from the debate site Monday morning beginning at 6:00 Eastern. You can watch that debate live on CNN Monday night at 8:00 Eastern. See I have tea right here.
ROMANS: This is true real tea. It's 6:04 in the east. All right, jobs. On the front on the burner last night during last night's debate is the focus of President Obama's address tonight.
This morning's CNN's learning some new information about some of the things that are in the plan and bottom line. Our Brianna Keilar live at the White House. Brianna, good morning.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Carol. We told you yesterday that it was a working number. That's true because the number, the size of this jobs plan according to Democratic sources familiar with the president's speech, it has grown now to $400 billion.
A working number I should tell you. The biggest chunk of this is that payroll tax extension that we're expecting. We've talked about it. Right now employees are seeing a break on their payroll taxes. The president also wants to extend that to employers.
That's the big thing. The other big chunk here is about $100 billion for infrastructure spending. Some of the other things you can expect the president to talk about in the speech tonight will include aid to states.
And also incentives for companies to hire some of those who are chronically underemployed at this point, for instance, veterans or the elderly, guys.
ROMANS: All right, how optimistic is the White House in getting the president's plan through Congress? Because, Brianna, as you know, a lot of what we hear now is not that the president should do something. It's about how the president needs to undo healthcare reform and what he's already done.
KEILAR: No. Certainly, the White House doesn't share that view as you can imagine. Clearly, the president wants to do something, wants to have impact on jobs, but the reality is tough. This has to clear anything that he has on jobs would have to clear Congress and to clear Congress, you have to clear House Republicans and you've seen the White House and House Republicans diametrically opposed.
So here's the strategy. It's not really surprising. If you are struggling to pass something or you have roadblocks, what is the strategy? Well, it's then to sort of point to whoever is standing in the way and in the White House's point of view, of course, it's House Republicans. You can kind of see this when you listen to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Washington needs to act. The American people outside of the beltway are tired of excuses. They want action and there will be no reason that Congress can't act on this unless politics gets in the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So put forward a plan and, if Congress doesn't just runaway with it, which guys as you can imagine, that's not going to happen and you talk to Democrats on the Hill, they accept that's not going to happen.
Then sort of addressing and pointing the finger at House Republicans who at this point are already really taking aim at the president's plan.
The reality is that when you talk to people on the Hill, Democrats, Republicans, they expect that jobs proposals, some of the proposals will be addressed incrementally in bits rather than a big sweeping jobs package that would be pushed through Congress.
ROMANS: All right, Brianna Keilar, thanks, Brianna. We're going to get some more insight into the president's speech in about half an hour.
I'm going to talk to Jay Carney actually, the White House press secretary and ask him, you know, what we can expect from the president and can they get it done.
Don't forget to tune in tonight for live coverage of President Obama's jobs speech. CNN's coverage of the event begins at 6:00 followed by the speech at 7:00.
COSTELLO: Now, it's your turn to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, how should the president handle the country's divisiveness in his big speech tonight?
Talk about pressure. The president will not only face a bitterly divided Congress, but a bitterly divided nation. The political forecast, cold, ice cold. Republican Congressman Joe Walsh is skipping the president's speech because, quote, "I don't see the point in being a prop for another of the president's speeches asking for more failed stimulus spending."
Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter won't be there either. He's hosting an NFL football party. After that, the vicious partisan attacks coming from both parties. My lips are numb. You have heard it loud and clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: He's the most effective food stamp president in American history.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: Tea Party can go straight to hell.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: That's what we've witnessed since Friday.
JAMES HOFFA: Let's take these sons of the bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Why bother with a bipartisan speech? As "New York Times" columnist Paul Krugman writes, the president should go big and bold and bipartisanship be dammed because what will Republicans agree to?
That's easy. Nothing. They will oppose anything Mr. Obama proposes. But wait, there are Republican leaders who say they are willing to work with the president. In a letter to Mr. Obama, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor write, it is also critical that our differences not preclude us from taking action in areas where there is common agreement. We should not approach this as an all or nothing situation.
So our "Talk Back" question this morning. How should the president handle the country's divisiveness in his speech tonight? Facebook.com/american morning. I'll read your responses later this hour.
ROMANS: What should his tone be? Some say he should come out in his tone as much as policies. I'm not taking this anymore, I'm not going to play the law professor, I'm going to play the street fighter and get something done.
COSTELLO: Do you think he can play the street fighter?
ROMANS: I don't know. Would it be genuine? He is a thinker. Thinks it through, don't you think? More prone to compromise than unilateral action. You sound disappointed. He needs to be tougher.
COSTELLO: He put himself in a bind because he ran on being a conciliator so he can't all of a sudden come out. So we'll see what happens.
ROMANS: Hockey fans around the world are mourning the loss of dozens of players who were killed in a plane crash in Russia yesterday. Forty three people died, including an entire team from Russia's Continental Hockey League. Among the dead, several players with extensive experience playing in the NHL right here in the United States.
CSOTELLO: Just a few hours in Los Angeles, they'll begin the process of selecting a jury for the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death. Prosecutors claim he administered a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to Jackson. Murray's lawyers failed in an attempt to have the jury sequestered for the high profile trial.
ROMANS: The so-called "Super Committee" created by the debt ceiling agreement gets to work today for the very first time. The bipartisan panel of 12 lawmakers has until November 23rd to find $1.5 trillion in deficit savings. It's then up to Congress to pass that plan or risk deep cuts to programs that are important to both parties.
COSTELLO: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, wildfires in Texas. Many people who were forced to leave their homes have no idea what, if anything, they have to go back to. We're live on the fire line.
ROMANS: Plus, Katia gets some company. The CNN Hurricane Center tracking one, two, three named storms right now. Find out where they're headed. It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
COSTELLO: And we're following that breaking news out of Germany where police say they have arrested two men for planning a possible attack. According to police, a 24-year-old man of Lebanese descent and a 28-year-old man from Gaza tried to get chemicals that can be used to make a bomb. Police do not believe the men had a specific target.
There's been a heightened sense of alert across the globe as we approach the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. When we find out more about this, of course, we'll pass it along to you.
ROMANS: Here in the U.S. this morning, they're making progress on the fire lines in Texas. The state's largest wildfire burning near Austin said now to be 30 percent contained. It's destroyed more than 500 homes. And just a few days, it's caused two deaths.
It's still too soon for many of the evacuees to return. People simply don't know if there's anything left of their homes in some cases.
CNN's Jim Spellman is live in Bastrop, Texas. So, this must be agonizing for people who've left and are waiting one by one to find out if their home is still there.
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Christine. And, you know, they all know that even after this fire is out, the battle for the people here to rebuild their lives, you know, and their communities will continue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SPELLMAN (voice-over): As firefighters begin to get control of the deadly Texas wildfire just a mile away, a makeshift command center becomes the new town square.
BILL LUDWIG, WILDFIRE VICTIM: Right here in Porto Red (ph).
SPELLMAN: Bill Ludwig's home is inside the fire zone. But he doesn't yet know for sure if it's been destroyed.
LUDWIG: I'm shocked I guess mostly. Not knowing what the end result is going to be. I'm pretty convinced that I -- in my mind that it's not going to be good. But, you know, then trying to figure out where we go from here.
SPELLMAN: For Linda Arebalos, a single mom who's been raising her three children here, the news came in the form of a picture sent to her iPhone.
(on camera): When you see these pictures, it must be just heartbreaking.
LINDA AREBALOS, WILDFIRE VICTIM: It is extremely heartbreaking.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): Her home and her van, gone. AREBALOS: The house can be replaced. But I think all the memories is what really hurts, it hits the heart. I start thinking about my babies' pictures and the things they made in elementary and, you know, the things I put up to save to give to their kids -- and gone. You know, it hurts.
MANNY MANFRED, LOST HOME TO WILDFIRE: One-twenty-five.
SPELLMAN: Manny Manfred found his address on a list of destroyed homes. He's already decided he wouldn't rebuild.
M. MANFRED: No, because it would be very difficult. Even if you clean it all away and everything, to sit there and look at black charred monuments to the past.
SPELLMAN: He greets his wife, Vicky.
VICKY MANFRED, LOST HOME TO WILDFIRE: We lost everything.
M. MANFRED: I know.
SPELLMAN: Grateful that even though his home is gone, they're safe and together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SPELLMAN: Christine, 181 wildfires just in the last week here in Texas. So they know that even when this one is out, another one could pop up just about anywhere. Firefighters have been taking advantage of the better wind conditions, namely, lower winds to try to get a handle on this. But this severe drought conditions remain. So that risk of fire remains, too, across nearly the whole State of Texas -- Christine.
ROMANS: Jim Spellman in Bastrop, Texas. Thanks, Jim.
COSTELLO: Is there any relief in sight? Let's head to the Extreme Weather Center and Rob Marciano. No rain in the forecast for Texas?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, you know, we have this other tropical storm down there in the Gulf of Mexico and it doesn't look that promising either.
Here's the five-day forecast, nothing but sunshine here. The only silver lining here is that temperatures actually -- in some mornings will be down to the 50s. So that will help firefighters get a handle on thing.
On the flip side, I think if we could just transport some of the flooding rains across the northeast into Texas, it's just unbelievable the dichotomy here. Nine-point-nine is the rainfall in Harrisburg; Binghamton, New York, nine inches as well. These are two cities that are enduring flooding right now. And it's only going to get worse throughout the day today. Flood warnings up for a number of the rivers that were flooded during Hurricane Irene, including part -- Philly is probably seeing some flooding right now and D.C. kind of a nightmare rush last night. And, again, this morning and then parts of Eastern Pennsylvania, including Harrisburg, Hershey and Binghamton, New York are going to be areas that we're going to see some serious flooding today.
All right. Here's the moist -- this is from Lee, by the way, leftovers of Lee. Tropical moisture, dense moisture continues to get into this flow and it's not making much progress to the east. So we'll see flooding on the roadways and we'll see slow traffic, obviously at the airports at the usual spots that are being impacted by this.
Tropical Storm Maria, this formed yesterday. Here's the forecast track. This may take a better run at the U.S., but hopefully one of these strong cold fronts will push it out to sea like Katia, which is, by the way, still a hurricane. It will miss us later on today.
And this formed last night, this is Tropical Storm Nate. Doesn't look too -- too menacing and it will probably go into Mexico itself. But it's going to probably strengthen because it will sit out here for a little bit of time. We can get some of this moisture into Texas, that would be ideal. But right now, all indications do not point to that.
ROMANS: Oh, another miss. Another miss.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, the American middle class has long been the backbone of this country. But is the middle class beginning to break? And what can the president say to help support the American worker?
ROMANS: Plus, why your local bank -- Bank of America branch might be closing. We're "Minding Your Business" right after the break.
It's 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all closed higher by about three percent yesterday. Investors getting a boost from good news about the fight against the European debt crisis and some optimism about the president and his jobs plan, what it could do in the U.S. economy.
Also today, investors waiting for the initial jobless claims report from the Labor Department. That comes out in about two hours. Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading slightly higher ahead of the opening bell.
Later this morning, the so-called Super Committee holds its first Super Committee meeting. That's the group of six Democrats and six Republicans set as part of the last month's debt ceiling agreement. The committee has until the end of November to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction.
And Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke will speak at the Minnesota Economic Club today. Every word counts from the Fed chief. Investors watching for signs, hints of an economic stimulus plan. Published reports say the Fed is considering something that's been nicknamed "Operation Twist." So not QE 3, but "Operation Twist" that would push down long term interest rates lower by -- than short term rates. Hopefully encouraging economic activity that way.
The U.S. dropping to number five on the world competitiveness list. A new survey by the World Economic Forum as developed countries dropping on the list and emerging markets moving higher. Notably, Singapore shot up to number two. Switzerland is number one.
Bank of America expected to close up to 600 of its branches across the U.S. -- 600. Analysts say the shakeup of the bank's upper management this week signals those closures. Also potentially huge layoffs that have been rumored for months. Bank of America declined comment.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's just -- just about half past the hour. Time for this morning's top stories. Good morning to you.
Fireworks last night at the Republican Presidential Debate. Frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney clashing on issues like job creation and saving social security. The GOP candidates will go at it again Monday night at a debate hosted by CNN and the Tea Party. AMERICAN MORNING will be live from that debate site in Tampa.
Tonight at 7:00 P.M., Eastern, President Obama unveils his plan to strengthen the economy and create new jobs. Democratic sources telling CNN the plan which could top $400 billion, like is a heavy emphasis on infrastructure improvement. CNN has live coverage of the president's speech.
President Obama putting in a call to Governor Rick Perry assuring him that federal help will be available to deal with wildfires burning across Texas. Fire crews are making progress battling the state's largest fire near Austin. They say it is now 30 percent contained.
ROMANS: All right. Back now to one of our top stories.
Tonight, President Obama rolls out his plan to strengthen the economy, create jobs and support America's middle class. Americans who work hard, play by the rules, and hope to earn enough money to support their families. But a new study finds that the middle class is unraveling. The promise for the American middle class is unraveling.
Joining me now is Tamara Draut, vice president of policy and programs at Demos, a nonprofit -- a nonpartisan, rather -- research group which conducted the study.
Welcome to the program.
The middle class unraveling. One of the statistics in your report that's shocking is that a man with a high school degree today will earn 75 cents of what his father did. In a generation, the prospects for, quote-unquote, "the average worker' have declined. Why?
TAMARA DRAUT, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY AND PROGRAMS, DEMOS: You know, there's lots of factors into it. One, we know what has happened to the availability of good, blue collar middle class paying jobs. They've been shipped overseas. That's only intensified since the Great Recession. So, that's one major factor.
But the other factor is, you know, we built the middle class that we as a nation were so proud of and known for, with dedicated public investment, with regulation that protected middle class family savings and investments. So the middle class unraveled over the course of a generation as we started to pull back from those kinds of investments, whether it was keeping college tuition at public universities well within reach in the middle class. You know, tuition has tripled in a generation.
ROMANS: And we do know, when you look at the tuition statistics, we do know that this has far outstripped the increase in inflation. In fact, I mean, you can't compare it with the increase in inflation when you look at the rise in tuition. And we know that workers with a bachelor's degree, it is to a degree an insulator for them. This is the annual instate college tuition increase. I mean, it's I don't know if these numbers are on the right hand side, but is it -- it's just astronomical.
DRAUT: Yes, it's off the charts. You know, it used to be a generation ago that middle class families could pay out of pocket for a public university, which is where the majority of young people go to get a college education. Well, that's changed.
The result is you have a whole generation that is paying for college with student loan debt. So, now, they're entering this really brutal economy, they've got $25,000 in student loan debt and they're having a really hard time getting a job. So --
ROMANS: We look at what you say is unraveling middle class. The insulator is, you know, if you have a bachelor's degree, the unemployment rate is I think 4.3 percent. So, that is n insulator, if you can get that degree. But to get that degree, it's further and further out of reach of middle class families.
DRAUT: That's exactly right. I mean, what has happened is, it's become either harder to work your way into the middle class or educate your way into the middle class. And a college degree is probably the best steppingstone we have today. But it's no guarantee.
ROMANS: So, this was also all starting to happen before the Great Recession. I mean, you can trace some of these trends back to the '80s. And there are a lot of different reasons for it. And people actually argue about the causes of it.
But what can the president do about it now in the next two years? What can he say tonight that can address some of these issues?
DRAUT: Well, I think the first thing we have to do is stop the bleeding. And there's actually a lot we can do to get the economy going, at least in the right direction.
ROMANS: Infrastructure spending?
DRAUT: Infrastructure spending, for sure. There's no better bang for the buck.
I would add to that, putting down payments on investing in America's talent and people. We really need to turn around --
ROMANS: Like retraining, you mean?
DRAUT: Retraining.
ROMANS: We have hundreds of programs that don't work. I mean, I talked to a state government who said his own state's retraining programs, he said it's basically work jobs programs for people to sit in public jobs. They don't retrain anybody.
DRAUT: Right. The problem is, we've sort of gone, approached worker retraining in a very haphazard fashion. We need to be a much more rigorous and much more serious as many other nations are.
ROMANS: So, do you think the president will talk about that tonight? Do you think -- we do expect he will put retraining in his package?
DRAUT: I would hope so, only because we have so many people who lost their jobs, good construction jobs, manufacturing jobs, that are having a hard time getting a hold in this labor market.
ROMANS: So, let me ask you about this. So, the other side of this entire middle class squeeze is that the Republicans, especially Tea Party people, say that we've got to stop spending. We have to stop spending.
The problem is an out of control government. That's what's crushing business and crushing jobs and regular people.
DRAUT: Well, there's no indication that that is the case. And I think most polls show that the American people actually understand that we need to walk and chew gum at the same time. They understand that long-term deficit reduction is not in any way getting in the way of speeding up the economic recovery. We can spend now -- and, by the way, the best way to reduce long-term debt is to put Americans back to work.
ROMANS: Yes.
DRAUT: And the American people know that.
ROMANS: It would have been nice if Congress could have talked about deficit reduction in a real way before the Great Recession when things weren't so bad. I mean, the problem is, given a choice, you know, Congress doesn't attack the big problems. Now wait for a crisis to try to do it.
All right. Tamara Draut, a really interesting report. We look forward to talking to you again soon. Thanks.
Carol?
COSTELLO: New this morning, the man held in connection with the disappearance of Robyn Gardner in Aruba is staying behind bars. Gary Giordano was appealing a ruling that he could be held for another 60 days. But, yesterday, that appeal was denied. Giordano has not been charged anything, but he was one of the last people to see Gardner had she disappeared on August 2nd.
Amanda Knox's father says Italian prosecutors have no case left and he's hoping his daughter will be freed and back home in America by the end of the month. Curt Knox making those remarks after an Italian judge rejected a prosecution request for new DNA testing in the case. Amanda Knox is fighting a murder conviction for the 2009 death of a British roommate. Her appeal hearing resumes September 23rd.
Coming up next, CNN's special report -- teaching our children about 9/11. That dark day in history now becoming part of the curriculum in New Jersey schools. We'll take you inside the classroom.
Also coming up, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on a mission to Cuba today. We'll tell you why.
It's 35 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
When the Trade Center -- World Trade Center Towers fell 10 years ago, we all wondered what to tell our kids then. Educators in New Jersey face the same challenge and have spent time trying to figure out how to teach this.
COSTELLO: They have. They just released this new set of guidelines adding the 9/11 terror attacks to the state's K through 12 curriculum.
Deb Feyerick is here this morning. And I see you have the curriculum with you.
DEB FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I have the entire curriculum with me. And this is what's so fascinating is that they put a lot of thought into this. They wanted to start in the elementary grades, really teach basics, like colors, diversity, what is a hero, simple concepts that children can understand. But the real key is context, context, context. That's what the creators of the curriculum are aiming to achieve.
It's such a sad day for so many people that they want to show that terrorism is existed in many forms for generations. The question is, why? And how do we as a society change that?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABELLA FERNANDEZ, KENT PLACE SENIOR: You can see where the memory garden is going up.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Ask about the day the towers fell and Isabella Fernandez, who was seven years old at the time, will tell you about the dust, the airplane parts in the family's living room and most especially, the holes.
FERNANDEZ: Had a friend who lived in TriBeCa. She said, oh, the plane went through and there's holes on each side from either tower. I went through the day with this image of the two towers with holes on both sides.
FEYERICK: Now, 17 and a senior at a New Jersey all-girls prep school, Fernandez is experiencing 9/11 in a new way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does a terrorist look like?
FEYERICK: As part of history, she's studying it in class, in the context of global security and terrorism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important not only to look at the event but to understand the history and the consequences.
FEYERICK: Though 9/11 is increasingly taught in schools, New Jersey's 9/11 curriculum is the first known to be sanctioned by a state education department for grades kindergarten through 12. With more than 100 possible lesson plans on the subject, younger kids may learn about bullying and power. But older ones study topics like the allure of terrorism, its history, grieving and also remembering.
FERNANDEZ: How stereotype in general is a negative.
FEYERICK: Which was developed by educators like her Reba Petraitis.
REBA PETRAITIS, KENT PLACE SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER: How can we make this world a better place that future generations can live in peace? That was a major request coming out of the families of 9/11 when they asked us to write this curriculum.
FEYERICK: Nine-eleven widow Maryellen Salamone, one of the leaders behind it, knew the time was right.
MARYELLEN SALAMONE, 9/11 WIDOW: These pictures mark a moment in time. They are exactly the age my children were when on 2001 when their dad was killed.
FEYERICK: For Salomon, life after has been a process, figuring out ways to explain to her three growing children a little more each year.
M. SALAMONE: In the beginning was as simple as something really bad happened in New York City. And your dad died. And he's not coming home.
FEYERICK: Two years ago, with her eldest son heading to high school, she showed her kids video of the attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on just a moment. We have an explosion inside --
M. SALAMONE: It was hard for them to see it for the first time.
AIDEN SALAMONE, FATHER KILLED ON 9/11: You don't think of it as history, something that happened in the world. You think of it as something that happened directly to you.
FEYERICK: And that's exactly the mindset Salamone is trying to change.
M. SALAMONE: It's a much bigger global issue that has been in history and affected lots and lots of families, not just us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Timothy McVeigh, Patty Hearst, Anders Breivik.
FERNANDEZ: Terrorism isn't 9/11. That's what we know of it because that's what we've grown up with as far as terrorism is concerned. But that's not what it is.
FEYERICK: Learning about terrorism in the hopes of trying to prevent it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: And the creators, the educators, the parents, they really want the classroom to be a safe space so that children can understand in a really comforting way this painful part of the nation's history. There are different exercises designed to stimulate critical thinking.
In the class that you heard from, the students were asked what a terrorist look like. Some of the girls are very surprised that their responses were so stereotypical. And so, you identify with what you know. That's what they're trying to change.
They're trying to say, well why? Why does your terrorist not look like the Norwegian gunman who opened fire on all those kids? So, it really sparks really good and healthy conversation.
ROMANS: Interesting. Tom Kaine, the former New jersey governor, who actually helped with this whole curriculum, he told me this week that it's actually the victims' families who have been the wind at their sails in all of this because it's women like Maryellen and her family and others who have all along been saying let's keep it moving, keep going. Try to teach from this. This is a part of history. How are we going to do it right?
FEYERICK: Right.
ROMANS: And I think that's really brave of all of them.
FEYERICK: And Maryellen said, she said, you know, well, look, I don't want my husband's death to have been in vain. So, if something positive can come out of this, if children can learn, if children can change the way they see the world, then maybe it will make a difference.
COSTELLO: I'm just amazed that politics -- I know you said it was state sanctioned. But, you know
FEYERICK: It was endorsed. Five years ago they tried this. They couldn't get it through. People were just too raw from the experience and it was too political. Now, it seems with 10 years passed, it is, how do you explain to a six-year-old or an 11-year-old.
And those are questions people really want to know. Teachers want to know.
COSTELLO: How do you explain to a 25-year-old? It's hard for a lot of us to understand.
ROMANS: I know.
COSTELLO: Deb, great story.
This Sunday, CNN will have special live coverage of the remembrance events throughout the day, "9/11/10 Years later," Sunday, beginning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
ROMANS: Up next, boycotting the big speech. We'll be joined by a Republican congressman who says, no, he won't be there tonight.
COSTELLO: Plus, the man accused of helping himself at Celine Dion's house. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Sparks flying at the Republican presidential debate last night. Frontrunners, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, clashing on issues like job creation and saving Social Security.
Tonight, President Obama unveils his plan to stimulate job growth and boost the economy. The plan is expected to focus on new infrastructure spending and targeted tax cuts. You can see the president's speech right here live at 7:00 p.m. eastern on CNN.
Police in Germany have arrested two men in Berlin on suspicion of plotting a bomb attack. According to officials, the men were taken into custody after trying to get chemicals that can be used to make a bomb.
Former New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, is in Cuba trying to win the release of an American contractor who's been held there for nearly two years. Richardson was invited by the Cuban government to negotiate the release of Alan Gross who's been accused of trying to set up illegal internet connections in that country.
And an unexpected guest arrested at Celine Dion's Montreal home. Police say the suspect broke into the couple's unoccupied home on Monday, helping himself to something to eat, drawing himself a warm bath before cops arrived and took him into custody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (on-camera): That's the news you need to know to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I'm not prepared --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: But I am no. I'm ready now.
ROMANS: Because it's raining for three days. It's been raining. We haven't seen the sunshine.
COSTELLO: When President Obama delivers his big jobs speech before Congress tonight, Republican Paul Broun of Georgia will not be in attendance. Instead, the congressman says he'll be sitting in his office conducting a town hall meeting on Twitter. So, we wanted to ask the congressman about that. Rep. Paul Broun joining us live from Washington this morning. Good morning, congressman.
REP. PAUL BROUN (R), GEORGIA: Good morning, carol. I'm honored to be with you. Thank you.
COSTELLO: We appreciate you being here. You say you're doing this because you want to be able to talk to your constituents during the speech. So, you'll actually be watching from your office hosting a Twitter town hall, but why not be there in person and show support for maybe a bipartisan solution?
BROUN: Carol, I've heard this campaign speech before. We've seen the proposals before, and they have not worked. And I'm interested in what my constituents have to say about how we create jobs and create a strong economy. The president's proposals have not worked before. They're not going to work again. He's proposing the same old stuff that has failed in the past. And in fact, big government, central planning has never worked.
It didn't work in the Soviet Union. It's not going to work in this country no matter how President Obama tries to put them in place. And so, I'm eager to hear from my constituents. That's the reason we're doing a town hall meeting over Twitter so people can communicate with me and tell me what they think about the president's speech, what they think we need to be doing here in Washington to create a strong economy and create jobs.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about your Twitter town hall. You did the same thing during the State of the Union.
BROUN: Right.
COSTELLO: You sent about 25 tweets, mostly criticizing the president, and I want to read some. One of them went, "Mr. President, you don't believe in the constitution. You believe in socialism." Another one, "All children will be poor if we continue with Obama's policies." How is that exactly helping? Because that's not really a conversation. That's just accusing the president of things that you believe about him.
BROUN: We weren't holding a town hall meeting on that particular occasion. We're doing -- we're inviting people to come on board, to give me comments, to give me suggestions, to tell me what they think we should be doing here in Washington, D.C. I'm trying to listen to my constituents.
Unfortunately, our president doesn't listen to many people except for his close advisers. He, certainly, has not listened to the American people when he forced through Obamacare or the stimulus bill --
COSTELLO: I understand you want to listen to your constituents, but right now, the country needs you to represent the entire United States, not just your district.
BROUN: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Because right now, the economy is in the tank, and people need help. So, why not go to the speech, sit down, listen, maybe you won't agree, but at least, you'll be there telling the American people, not just the people in your district, that you care about the country.
BROUN: Well, I do care about the country deeply. I'm a U.S. marine. I join the Marine Corps to defend our country. I love our country. I love liberty, and the thing that I see from this president is he's taking away liberty. In fact, what we need to be doing is focus upon the job creators here in America, not bigger government, not central planning, and that's what he believes in.
COSTELLO: But he is the president, sir. He is the president.
BROUN: I understand that.
COSTELLO: And you have to work with him no matter what you believe. You have to. It's just the way our system is set up.
BROUN: Carol, you're right. We have to work together, and I work with Democrat, in fact, some of the most liberal Democrats. We've worked together on many issues, healthcare, housing issues, housing construction, things like that, but the thing is, this president does not listen. This is just another campaign speech. This is -- he's focusing on 2012 election. And that's what this is all about.
We're seeing these same proposals of big government, big government spending. It's failed over and over again. I want to hear from my constituent what they say. And so, it's not being disrespectful to the president. It's being respectful for my -- towards my constituents. And I'm eager to work with the president. In fact, he said if we have ideas, to come knocking on his door, but I knocked about my health care bill that nobody answered.
I introduced HR-660 which would create a lot of jobs here in this country. We need to be focusing on those types of things instead of the central planning big government idea.
COSTELLO: I understand where you're coming from, but even Eric Cantor, the guy (ph) that walked out of the debt ceiling meetings, even he said that we have to find some areas that we agree on because it's so important at this time to do that. He says, I think we need to build consensus, and that's going to require all of us not to impugn motives to question patriotism. He says we really need to be there tonight so that we can find common ground. Is he wrong?
BROUN: Carol, what we need to be doing is trying to create an environment so that job creators in the private sector will start hiring people, and that's what my bill, HR-660, the jobs act will do. It will put money back in the hands of those job creators, small businesses, large businesses all over this country. So, they can buy inventory, so they can expand, so they can hire permanent employees.
Not these ideas that have been proposed by the president. We've already seen them in the stimulus bill. They failed before. They're going to fail again. We need to start focusing on what's going to get this country back on the right course. And frankly, we can't wait until the 2012 election. We need to be doing that right now.
COSTELLO: Uh-huh.
BROUN: So, I'm eager to work with my Democrat colleagues in the House as well as the Senate.
COSTELLO: Just not the president.
BROUN: And the president, too. I've knocked on his door many times to try to propose things that make sense for America, make sense for healthcare, make sense for job creation, make sense to create a strong economy here in this country, but he doesn't listen. So, the thing is, I'm listening to my constituents.
I'm listening to the American people. I invite people from all over this country to join in this town hall meeting. They can join me on Twitter at reppaulbrounmd and join in the conversation. I encourage people to do so.
COSTELLO: All right. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
BROUN: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: We appreciate it.
BROUN: Thank you. Thank you.
ROMANS: Carol, I have to make a point about stimulus, because this is something you've heard a lot from Republicans. That they tried stimulus, stimulus didn't work. It's not the stimulus didn't work. It's the stimulus as (ph) disappointment. It didn't work as well as the White House had said it would work.
The Congressional Budget Office, private economists, the White House all agree, without stimulus, you would have lost more jobs. It was a buffer. It wasn't the monster buffo job creator that they had hoped.
COSTELLO: But you're not allowed to say stimulus anymore.
ROMANS: I know.
COSTELLO: It's a dirty word.
ROMANS: Now, it's called a jobs package. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
